As guardians of the collective memory, archives are vital for the future of art historical research. Access to archival information is of crucial importance for restitution and provenance research as well as in regard to the preservation of cultural heritage of an artist’s legacy. Following the formation of the Presidential Advisory Commission for Holocaust Assets in 1998, several conferences have been devoted to this subject. However, with increasing demand for information in the digital age, European archival repositories must confront the broader challenges of making their material accessible. By utilizing the possibilities of digitization today, archival information worldwide can be systematized and crosslinked, allowing greater accessibility to these indispensable materials for scholars and researchers.
This international conference will provide case studies of archival re-discoveries, highlight archives that are under-utilized and therefore a priority for concentration, and under-score the resources currently available to archive holders.
The panels and discussions will be conducted in English.